Insull, Samuel

(born Nov. 11, 1859, London, Eng.—died July 19, 1938, Paris, France) British-born U.S. public-utilities magnate. He moved to the U.S. in 1881 to become the private secretary of Thomas Alva Edison and rose to become president of the Chicago Edison Co. in 1892. By 1907 he had taken control of Chicago's transit system. By 1912 his vast electric-power system, enlarged by various mergers, was operating several hundred power plants. He vigorously promoted the stock of his holding companies. When they collapsed in 1932, he fled to Europe; extradited in 1934, he was tried three times for fraud, violation of bankruptcy laws, and embezzlement but was acquitted each time.

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